Review: Blundstone 510 Boots for Biking? (UPDATED)

Boots aren’t usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cycling footwear. They seem awkward, clunky and a little stiff. However, riding through the last few weeks of Pacific Northwest Winter, I’ve really become tired of having cold wet feet. Looking for options on line, I saw more than a few references of riding in Blundstones (or Blunnies as aficionados like to say). Todd from Clever Cycles swears by them, Vik from the Lazy Randonneur loves his Chunks and BikeHugger has a pair to brave the wet Seattle weather. So why not?!

With some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, I went to a local dealer (Clogs and More in Portland) and tried on a pair. Blundstones are a working man/women’s boot. They are classy but have an understated utilitarian grace to them. You can dress them up or go tramping in the dirt with them. They have a bit of a cult following and are like the Brooks of the boot world. Blundstone diehards sing their praises about how they last for years under hard use. There has been some controversy of late if the new Blundstones are good as the old ones (another similarity with Brooks). They use to be made in Australia but have apparently moved production to Asia. I can’t really say if the old ones were better or not, since these are my first pair, but its a moot point since new ones are new ones unless you find a box of NOS Blunnies somewhere.

Anyway, I digress.

When I first picked them up in my hand I was surprised at their lightness. They look like they would weigh considerably more since the material rides above your ankle and the sole looks fairly thick, but they are surprisngly light. Compared to the Keen Finlays (430g) the Blundstone 510s are about 470 grams.

Another thing I wasn’t expecting was how comfortable they would be right off the bat. I usually associate boots with being some sort of foot corset, something that you have to contort your foot to get into and break in. Not so with the Blundstone 510s. My toes didn’t feel squished. They were free to wiggle around. But as I walked everything felt fairly well supported. The Blundstones don’t have laces so the fit is paramount, since you won’t be able to tighten them any further. I noticed that there was a little play at the heel, but nothing unbearable. Walking a couple dozen steps in the shoe shop, I was sold and left the store wearing the shoes on my feet.

The next test, of course, would be to see how they perform while riding. One thing I noticed immediately was how well the soles clung to my pedals. I had rated the Velo-Orange Sabot’s a 8/10 on PathLessPedaled wearing various Keen shoes. With the Blundies there was no slippage and the pedals immediately felt better ( 9/10!).

For a boot that goes over the ankle, there is enough give so it doesn’t restrict pedaling. Again, there is a little noticeable slack in the heel (which could be taken up with a bit thicker sock or orthotic) but nothing so terrible as to interfere. Todd from Clever Cycles says he likes the looseness, especially during the summer since it enhances the bellows effect when riding with thinner socks. Standing up and doing some spirited pedaling on a climb was a joy because of the really secure grip the soles had on the pedals. I took them out on a 25 mile ride in some coldish weather (low to mid 40s) with some wool socks that weren’t particularly thick. The weather was fairly dry so I can’t comment on their waterproofness yet, but my feet were fine. They were cool, but not to the extent they have been the last few weeks. Time and rain will tell if it will be the perfect shoe for winter. Another aspect that I really like about the Blundstone 510s is the lack of laces. You slip them on and off and that is it. Nothing to tie, AND nothing to get sucked into your drive train. Sometimes I’m pretty terrible with tying my shoelaces and they are always coming undone while walking or threaten to wrap themselves around my front chainring. No more!

So far, I’m pretty pleased with them and am a tentative convert to Blunnnies. Laura and I are going to go touring for a month in California down the central coast and into the desert and these will be the only shoe I will be taking. This is fairly huge, since for the last 4 years the only things I have worn are Keen sandals and shoes. Stay tuned for another update in a few weeks.

12/30/12 UPDATE:

Just came back from a nice day ride through hills, mud and gravel. The 510s remain super comfortable and are becoming my favorite shoe. The weather was in the upper 30s. My toes were not warm, but they didn’t feel like they were falling off either. Haven’t tried them in the rain yet, so I can’t report on the waterproofness.

15 Responses

Mel HughesDecember 29, 2012 at 10:33 pm ·

I think the design, especially the last the 500-510’s are built on is very comfortable. The upper construction is also very good. The leather of the uppers and the elastic gore fabric were very sturdy on the pair I owned. There is one thing I did not care for though. The Blunnies have an injected sole which has a history of late of cracking, being too think, then crumbling. That is exactly what happened to mine. At the time, I was told there was nothing that could be done for it. But now I see that there is a service that will replace the Blunnie soles with Vibrams ( http://www.myshoeman.com/blundstone_shoe_repair.htm ) Now I wish I still had the uppers!

I’m sure you won’t regret having those. I’ve been searching myself and read a lot of reviews also builds the confidence to have one pair for my self (yeah, it’s a lot expensive) which on pick the one for my working boots. Haven’t decide it yet, due to a lot of variants. I wonder why you simply choose 510 amongst other Blundstone type.

papabybikeDecember 30, 2012 at 1:08 am ·

Mel, thanks for that site. I had the same happen to my blundstones. They’re a gorgeous pair that fit perfectly after about 5 years. My wife’s pair that she bought used 11 years ago is still fine. I guess this is the difference between the new and old ones. The same thing happened to the pair that I gave my dad. Next week both pair are headed to be fixed.

Once they break in they’re the best shoes/boots ever. I was heartbroken about the soles.

@Mel Thanks for that link. They’re fairly local to us in PDX. Will keep that in mind.

Russ

michelleDecember 30, 2012 at 2:03 am ·

I’m convinced.
I’ve also been doing some research on a good 3 season shoe for riding and keep coming up with blundstone. My biggest worry was that they looked kind of work boot-ish. After a quick look about flickr, I saw quite a few ladies sporting them with skirts and leggings. YAY!

Christopher in Aotearoa NZDecember 30, 2012 at 8:30 am ·

Hundreds of Ocker blokes will be curious to know that you can ride with these boots! Blundstones are an Aussie style icon.

PaulDecember 30, 2012 at 1:51 pm ·

Used to ride to school as a kid on an old Malvern Star bike, my school shoes from year 6 to year 10 were blunnies.Still have an old pair, but only use them for fishing.Made from real solid leather,just remember to look after them. If you can get your hands on it,Dubbin will do the trick. They need to sealed well with something other than an ordinary boot polish.

I do everything in my Blundstones, and have had a pair constantly since getting my first pair while studying at Canberra School of Art in 1994. Wouldn’t be without them.

Ian NDecember 31, 2012 at 6:53 am ·

For much of my adult life, I used to live in Blundstones, but when they went China-made, they no longer made a lace-up boot that doesn’t have steel caps, and I don’t like the elastic ones. I’ve gone over to Keen now, but they’re not as perfect a fit for my foot shape, and I have to wear them in to get comfortable.

Russ – I sold Blunnies for years, and swore by them; until the move to India. When my last pair of Tasmanian made gave up the ghost, I reached out to the national distributor and asked him point blank, “Am I going to get the same life/happiness out of the new boots?” He said, “I know you’ll love your new boots as much as your old ones.” I noticed immediately, the foot bed isn’t as sturdy or comfortable, and the leather seemed thinner. Still fingers crossed. In the year I have had them, the rand is coming away from the boot, and the tread has worn away terribly fast. Needless to say, I am disappointed. When I reached back out to the distributor, he offered a replacement pair but said there were no guarantees that they’d be the same. Ugh.

Perhaps worth a comparison. Reach out to Danner, perhaps they’d let you test drive a pair…

BrendenFebruary 4, 2013 at 10:10 am ·

Occasionally I flick through sites to View comments about our products and other brands.
Firstly thank you for the review of our product and it is nice to hear to date the product has performed in the manner expected.
Making shoes I never want to disregard what experience people have, but there are some facts in shoe making people need to be aware of and our move to Asia.
“Crumbling Sole”. This is inherit in all Polyurethane footwear product, faced by every footwear manufacture in the World. Polyurethane especially when the product outsole is such, is prone to Micro Organism attack. When left for extended periods of time, stored in Closets or High Humid conditions the mechanical bonding of the material begins to lose its solid links thus the sole slowly becomes soft to the point of separating. If you wear the product continuously this is never an issue just part of the component fantastic under foot but do not leave them in your closet for 2-3 years.
We have however in the last 2 years upgraded all our outsole to TPU this will extend the life considerable and reduce the occurrence of this issue.
Leather: Certainly our initial move we did have some issues sourcing Leather it all came from our Tannery in South Hobart which shutdown. So our first year was reasonably tough. We managed however to find 3 quality tanneries two comparable to our Hobart operation and one even better, but this did take a little time.
Quality: We are confident they are better now than we previously made and we base Australian people at the factories to ensure quality standards are adhered too. This is no disrespect to our Australian team they did a fantastic job and we are proud of everyone of them. But to compete against the good Asians Factories on labour rates they had to work 5 times quicker than their Asians cousins, so quality did suffer a little. You will be glad to know everyone of them found jobs due to the Blundstone relationship and are more than happy with the final outcome and our help in the transition.
If you would like to know more feel free to contact me.
Brenden Maynebmayne@blundstone.com.au
Manager Technical Innovation and Design.

Mark PittmanMarch 21, 2013 at 5:39 pm ·

My blundstone CSA approved steeltoe workboots are lasting 2 years in a refinery setting. They are by far the most comfortable workboots I’ve had. If the soles aren’t cracking in
-30c weather in northern Canada, they should last riding a bike around.

AndyJuly 12, 2013 at 3:34 pm ·

Definitely need to amend my comment earlier. Brenden, from Blundstone and I traded some emails and after some discussion, I believe that the pair I purchased really suffered from the growing pains of the new location. Be it materials or workmanship, there was definitely something lacking.

That being said, Brenden sent me a new pair from the new factory, assuring me that the workmanship and materials stood up to the expectations of a longtime fan of the “old” blunnies. A month in and I have to admit he is right. These boots are definitely on par with what one should expect from Blundstone. Great leather, stitching, bonding, and it feels like there might be an improvement in the footbed. These boots are leaps and bounds above the interim pair.

Thank you to Blundstone and Brenden. Faith restored.

Raymond FloroSeptember 27, 2013 at 10:05 pm ·

I used to wear Blunnies CONTANTLY till they moved their manufacturing offshore. Now I’ve changed brands to REDBACK. Heaps more comfortable. Wears longer. And STILL made in Australia

I have very weak ankles. So the only footwear I really use are the workbooks. So it’s important for me to have the right ones